Projects in progress

Faculty Involved: Education
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Monica Amadini
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students in providing support within the community space and school support center managed by the Emera Association in Brescia. Specifically, they are called upon to assist the service educators in conducting educational and recreational activities, devising cooperative workshops, and also paying attention to and monitoring any situations of fragility that require specific educational interventions.

The service learning objectives that characterize the project are:

• Being able to generate inclusive educational processes, following a community-based approach.
• Actively participating in community processes through the enhancement and development of support networks and local services.
• Promoting the creation of solidarity bonds that can benefit the growth of a cohesive social fabric.

Students are involved in the activities one afternoon a week, during the months of February, March, April, and May 2024.

Faculty Involved: Psychology
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Emanuele Serrelli
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students in supporting the training staff of the "Piacere: Avis" project carried out by the Università Cattolica in collaboration with (and on behalf of) Avis Provinciale Brescia.

The activities carried out directly by the students include:

• Shadowing couples during awareness meetings held in schools of all levels in the province of Brescia and at the Blood Donation Unit in Brescia.
• Participation in staff meetings and training sessions to deepen understanding of Avis, blood donation, and school education.
• Active participation in the planning of new summer activities to be carried out in summer camps and leisure centers.
• Active participation in project evaluation activities.
• Writing a personal thematic reflective diary, periodically compared with those of other participants and with the contents addressed in the course.

The service learning objectives characterizing the project relate to the following areas and contents:

• Pedagogical themes and concepts: relationship, educational distance, symmetry/asymmetry, emancipation, tradition/innovation, autonomy/dependence, education/training/animation.
• Elements of reflective thinking: observation, doubt, questioning, experimentation, comparison and language, hypothesis, concrete/abstract, play/work.
• Training methodologies: context analysis, design, management, communication, team, evaluation.
• Sense-making: values, gift, utopia, universalism, volunteering, inclusion, social participation.

The activity started in March 2024, engaging couples or groups of students for two mornings a week, and will conclude in May 2024.

Faculty Involved: Education
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Paola Zini
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students at the "Tempi per le famiglie" service, promoted and organized by the Rovato branch of Acli, through the definition and development of an intervention to meet the needs of the service and its users.

After an initial phase of classroom planning, students will work alongside the professional responsible for the facility, conducting activities with both children and the accompanying adults, paying particular attention to relational dynamics.

The service learning objectives that characterize the project are:

• Deepen understanding of pedagogical and educational needs in early childhood.
• Observe and understand a parenthood support service: "Tempi per le famiglie."
• Gain practical experience in the service, with specific attention to relationships with children aged 0-3, the relationship between the child and the referring adult, and relationships among adults.

The proposed activities started in March and will conclude in May 2024, involving students for one morning per week.

Faculty involved: Education
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Paola Zini
Academic year of implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students in the reality of Casa Ozanam-Casa San Vincenzo, a facility that provides accommodation services for mother-child pairs.

Initially, students will engage in classroom activities to design interventions tailored to the needs of the service and its users. Subsequently, they will visit the facility and, in collaboration with the professional figures present, implement the designed intervention.

The service learning objectives of the project include:

• Deepening understanding of pedagogical and educational needs in childhood.
• Exploring the theme of parental support.
• Experimenting with support modalities.

The proposed activity will take place from early March to late May 2024, for one or two afternoons a week, with 2/3 students alternating in managing the intervention.

Faculty Involved: Education
Campus: Piacenza
Project Coordinator: Professor Elisabetta Musi
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project aims to promote knowledge and collaboration in the development of a participatory research-training path for the teaching staff of the nursery schools of the Compehensive Institute of Maleo, located in the province of Lodi.

The activity involves a group of students from the Master's Degree Educational desing in child and youth services, tasked with participating in online and face-to-face meetings with the nursery school teachers.

Under the supervision of the project's referring professor, the students are responsible for observing the professional-interpersonal dynamics and the co-construction process of the training path. Specifically, they are engaged in the analysis of educational and didactic practices, leveraging the skills acquired and/or in the process of acquisition, such as active listening techniques, observation, and documentation. The work carried out is also shared in the classroom with other students of the master's degree program.

The objectives of the project in terms of service learning are:

• Promote knowledge of the construction of a participatory research-training project (back-office activities).
• Experiment with collaborating in the design of a participatory research-training path (observation of exchanges between teachers and facilitator, assistance in researching materials for training, meta-analysis of processes under the supervision of the facilitator, critical review).
• Share the experience with classmates of the master's degree program.

The activity started in February and will conclude in May 2024, with a time commitment of up to 20 hours for the students.

Faculty Involved: Education
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Monica Amadini
Academic year of implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students in an Integrated Volleyball service through collaboration with the Amateur Sports Association.

The initiative provides an opportunity for students to support the setup of the setting and to experiment with various support roles, including partner athlete, companion, and observer.

The service learning objectives that characterize the project are:

1. Generating inclusive educational processes, following a community-based approach.
2. Developing strategies to embrace diversity in its various expressions, recognizing it as a resource.
3. Using verbal and non-verbal communication codes effectively.
4. Developing observation skills.

Students participate in sports activities for two afternoons a week in the months of February, March, April, and May 2024.

Faculty Involved: Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinators: Professor Giulia Giantesio; Professor Stefania Pagliara
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves students from the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences in a civic education initiative on web usage, coordinated by the Social Cooperative "Il Calabrone" in collaboration with the Municipality of Brescia. This initiative is aimed at students from secondary schools in the territory.

University students are tasked with designing laboratory and playful paths with mathematics exercises focused on the theme of gambling in online video games. The goal is to stimulate curiosity and logical reasoning about probability calculations in young students and debunk common misconceptions and beliefs about the concept of "probable winnings."

The service learning objectives of the project, shared with educators from the cooperative "Il Calabrone," are aimed at raising awareness and preventing the use and abuse of gambling. This is achieved through the development of mathematical and statistical skills and promoting a greater awareness of the use of specific websites and/or applications. The gaming experience in small groups also aims to encourage students to engage in discussion and collaboration with peers, as well as improve their confidence in their mathematical and physical abilities through a more experimental approach to the discipline itself.

In addition to these objectives, the learning goals for university students are:

• Communicating mathematical and physical concepts clearly and effectively using a laboratory approach.
• Organizing flexible learning environments.
• Learning to relate appropriately while respecting the times and vulnerabilities of students/patients.
• Developing personalized/individualized interventions.
• Learning to manage learning groups.

The planning of activities by university students took place in November and December 2023. The execution of activities, in collaboration with the Cooperative "Il Calabrone," is scheduled for March, April, and May 2024, with a total duration of 40 hours.

Faculty Involved: Education
Campus: Brescia
Project Coordinator: Professor Alessandra Gerolin
Academic Year of Implementation: 2023/2024

The project involves a group of students, particularly those enrolled in the Master's degree program in Pedagogical Design and Human Resources Training, in activities carried out at the Taivé Tailoring Laboratory in Milan, managed by Caritas Ambrosiana. This laboratory provides training and employment opportunities for women in fragile situations.

The students, visiting the laboratory, will work alongside the women involved in the work activities and, through dialogue on equal terms, will engage them in a narrative ethics project aimed at raising awareness and sharing the path of emancipation undertaken, also in light of the work done. They will be tasked with addressing and responding to the need for recognition expressed by the women protagonists of this project, supporting them in telling their own path of human and professional growth.

The service learning objectives of the project are as follows:

• Testing the philosophical skills acquired in the field of development of capabilities and substantial freedoms.
• Accompanying the awareness of the path taken by women in a situation of vulnerability, through the use of narrative ethics to achieve self-awareness and recognition of one's own value.
• Accompanying the development of desire through dialogue practice.
• Assisting in emancipatory action and awareness of any critical issues.

The students will be involved in supporting the women at the Taivé laboratory for three days during the months of March and April 2024, for a total of 9 hours.

The outcomes of this path of critical self-awareness and moral development will be presented by the women of Taivé themselves, with the support of the students and some pedagogical area professors, at a final public event to be held at the headquarters at 48 via della Garzetta, Brescia, on May 16, 2024, from 1:30 pm to 4 pm. Participation in this event will also be open to social actors and representatives of associations from the Brescia area.

The students will also take part in the event organized by FAI - Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano, titled "Silk. On the thread of a story", which will be held at Palazzo Moroni, Bergamo, on May 10, 11, and 12, 2024. During this event, the students will assist the tailors of Taivé in conducting a textile workshop on the creative reuse of silk and other materials otherwise destined for waste, which will be held on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 May, from 10 am to 6 pm. The demonstrative workshop will be accompanied by the recounting of the experience lived by the tailors.

The complete program of the event can be found at this link.